


Surviving the Storm

by MarshmallowMcGonagall



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Auror Draco Malfoy, Auror Harry Potter, Idiots in Love, M/M, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Thunder and Lightning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:01:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22625206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarshmallowMcGonagall/pseuds/MarshmallowMcGonagall
Summary: Their shouting match had silenced the rest of the staff and visitors in the Ministry. Harry wasn't even sure what they were yelling about any more, only that he had stepped out of the Floo and followed Draco across the atrium when Draco spun on his heel and they stood inches from each other, the words hurled across a street now hurled across a few inches. It hadn't mattered, the breaths held in hot anger, while Floo powder was flung into the flames, words ready to be spat as soon as they were together again. Another Auror had taken the prisoner straight to Azkaban while Harry and Draco's ceasefire fell apart on the cobbled road.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 160





	Surviving the Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CheekyTorah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheekyTorah/gifts).



> Lex gave me the intriguing prompt of Drarry and angst: "Harry doesn’t know why he’s so ANGRY at Draco, or more like Dracos boyfriends" and the additional detail of being work partners.

Their shouting match had silenced the rest of the staff and visitors in the Ministry. Harry wasn't even sure what they were yelling about any more, only that he had stepped out of the Floo and followed Draco across the atrium when Draco spun on his heel and they stood inches from each other, the words hurled across a street now hurled across a few inches. It hadn't mattered, the breaths held in hot anger, while Floo powder was flung into the flames, words ready to be spat as soon as they were together again. Another Auror had taken the prisoner straight to Azkaban while Harry and Draco's ceasefire fell apart on the cobbled road.

Green flames continued to roar around them as people came and went from the Ministry but a loose circle clinging to the edges of the atrium had begun to form and neither wizard noticed. Their deep blue Auror robes flew around them as hands were flung out and fingers pointed. Draco pushed back his hair and bit his lip, the tension rippling across him in a way that anyone else would have taken as a sign not to leave but to run. Harry's fingers flexed around his wand and several people jumped when they noticed his hand twitch. He didn't know if the rush in his ears was from his pounding heart or the fountain which dominated the atrium. All he knew was that this anger was burning through him like a curse.

He saw Draco's gaze dart away from him, saw Draco's bitter smile, saw Draco turn and walk away just as a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Harry," said Hermione. "Harry you can't do this here."

Harry watched Draco stride towards a Floo and disappear in green flames. Hermione squeezed his shoulder and he shrugged out of her grip. Undeterred, Hermione grabbed his arm and started to lead him away. She held her head high and made clear from her glare that any witnesses to this were not to speak of it. Harry followed, the fire in him out of fuel, his body in desperate need of somewhere to collapse.

Hermione's grip on him didn't loosen until they were in her office. She let him go, pushed him in the direction of the old leather couch, and closed the door. She put up wards and silencing charms, and sat on her desk, arms crossed and watching him as he sunk down, head back and staring at the ceiling.

"Congratulations," she said. "I think that was the most unprofessional you've managed to be with Draco to date."

"Don't," he muttered.

"In front of everyone, Harry?" She stretched her leg to gently kick his shin. "You're lucky no one from the Daily Prophet was there, but there are plenty of witnesses who are going to be going to the Leaky Cauldron tonight telling everyone how they saw the Head Auror and his Deputy have a screaming match." She rubbed the bridge of her nose and kicked his shin harder. "You can't keep doing this."

"We - I - a mission has never been compromised." He shot her a glance and sat up, rubbing his shin. 

"Never been compromised?" Her bitter laugh faded into tired worry. "Is that the standard you're really holding yourself to?"

Harry stood up and went to the door. Hermione sighed and lifted the wards. His hand on the door handle, he hesitated, turning to look at Hermione before shaking his head and leaving.

Hermione groaned as she heard him walk away down the corridor. Compromised was such an easy word. So much easier than saying tortured or killed. So much easier than saying she didn't want to see someone she loved suffer because he refused to deal with what was in front of him. The tensions had always been there between Harry and Draco but they at least had managed to keep enough professionalism between them. Enough that they managed the Auror Department better than it had ever been managed before. Enough that they were having more successful missions than ever before. Enough that they were civil to each other. Until six months ago. Until Draco had started seeing someone. Until Harry was forced to acknowledge Draco had a life outside of the Auror Department. Until Harry had found Draco being kissed senseless by an Unspeakable in a little used corridor of the Ministry. That was when the arguments started. Both men ready to spark at the smallest provocation. Both men letting their masks slip when there was a chance to hurl a curse in the form of cruel words. Both men walking a tightrope which the Ministry was watching with baited breath.

Harry slipped out of the Ministry and Apparated to Grimmauld Place. The door slammed back against the wall and his eyes stung. The door locked, he strode through the house, pulling off his robes and heading towards the library. There was a bottle of Firewhisky which he intended to see the bottom of before the night was out.

All these years and he still hadn't changed the wards. Hermione opened the door to Grimmauld Place and shut it behind her gently. She placed bets with herself as to where he would be as she walked down the hallway. Pushing open the door to the library, she saw him slumped back on a sofa, arms crossed and staring at a bottle of Firewhisky on the table in front of him. The only light in the room came from the fire and the orange glow crept nervously around him, the flickering light touching him for brief moments only to retreat. He didn't look up but he held his hand out to her. She went to him, dropping her bag beside the sofa before taking his hand and sinking down beside him.

"I'm sorry," he said.

She leaned towards him, ostensibly to kiss him on the cheek, but really to see how badly he smelt of Firewhisky. He turned to look at her and rested his forehead against hers. Sober. He was sober. She couldn't help smiling.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered. "You can't keep doing this."

"I know." He put his arms around her and like they were still children, they ended up in a tumble of limbs in the attempt to hold each other close. "I know." He swallowed and she could hear the upset rippling just below the surface. He sniffed and held her tighter. Her eyes widened, he was an Auror and wielded the strength to go with the work. She wriggled and found herself able to breathe more easily. Cheek to cheek, she stroked his mess of black hair. His deliberate deep breaths occupied the silence alongside her worried sighs and they sat in the increasing darkness as the fire burned low.

It was the early hours when Hermione groaned and pushed Harry's shoulder. They had slid further down the sofa in a heap as sleep took them. Harry grunted and took his arms from around Hermione before grabbing her again when she grabbed him as she tried to stop herself falling to the floor. They moved around with ease of old friendship as they found comfort again. Hermione took Harry's glasses and put them on the table while Harry shoved cushions under their heads and summoned a blanket from across the room. Stuck in the haze between sleep and waking, they closed their eyes again.

"A fucking Unspeakable," Harry muttered, and they both pretended Hermione hadn't heard while they waited for sleep to take them again.

When sunlight forced itself through the gaps in the curtains, Hermione began to stir. She knew Harry would do his best to ignore the need to get up. She stroked the end of his nose and he batted her hand away clumsily. She laughed softly as he groaned.

"You don't have the excuse of a hangover," she said. "The morning is waiting for you."

"It can wait longer," he said, squinting at her with bleary eyes. She reached towards the table and he held her so she didn't fall off the sofa. She gave him his glasses and settled beside him again. He put his glasses on and looked no more awake than he had before. "Thanks for - thanks."

"It's what friends are for." She stroked the end of his nose again and, nose scrunching up, he grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. "You know what else friends are for?"

"What's the point?" He stared past Hermione and let his attention wander to the intricate wallpaper. He tried to count the leaves and flowers in the section between two bookcases. He could only see Draco's furious gaze. The grey eyes which could be like cold moonlight or molten silver. The pink tinge in Draco's cheeks a smudge Harry wanted to brush away with his thumb. No. There was someone else in Draco's bed. And why did it even matter who was in Draco's bed? Draco was his Deputy. His colleague. His old enemy and now a tolerated partner. There wasn't anything there before, why should there be something now Draco had a life beyond late nights of paperwork with him in the office?

"Harry," she said. "Look, I don't have favours to call in but I need you to trust me on something."

"I always trust you," he said, turning to look at her, his smile soft.

"Then trust me when I say you need to talk to Draco."

"I do talk to him."

"The rest of the Auror Department talks, too, Harry." She stroked his cheek and nudged him until he was looking at her. "You need to talk to Draco about what's going on between the two of you."

He gave an empty laugh. "There's nothing going on between us." He sat up slowly, rubbing his neck while he held Hermione's hand as she righted herself. He leant forward, elbows on his knees and twirled his glasses in his hands. "That's been made pretty clear, don't you think."

"Yes, Harry, there's clearly nothing between you and the man who are like Fiendfyre when you open your mouths." She stood up and held out her hand to him. "Come on, we're going for a walk."

Harry eyed her with suspicion but soon found himself on the top step outside Grimmauld Place. She had refused to tell him where they were going and he was trying to put his hopes in the fact she didn't have a tendency towards dramatics. Dragons aside. He held her hand and together they Apparated. They landed in pouring rain with their feet crunching on gravel.

"No," he said, shooting her an angry glance as she kept her grip on him tight. He couldn't Disapparate if she was still holding on and unwilling. He was furious but he wasn't going to risk splinching her.

"Yes," she said. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Harry looked at manse which Draco had lived in since leaving Malfoy Manor. The old Muggle building had never been modernised and had a comfortable air of being at home in the surrounding woodland. Rain continued to pelt them and there were rumbles of thunder in the distance.

"Precisely," said Hermione. Harry swore and she arched an eyebrow. She squeezed his hand and started walking towards the front door. He followed with a reluctance he hadn't felt before.

She knocked on the heavy wooden door which sat in a domineering stone arch and they waited long enough that Hermione started to chew her lip. The clank of the handle shook them both from their thoughts and when the door opened they were met by a dishevelled Draco looking them up and down.

"Granger," said Draco.

"Malfoy," she said. "Sleep well?" He scowled at her and she smiled brightly. "Try and behave yourselves." She kissed Harry on the cheek, walked away, and Disapparated.

"What are you doing here?" said Draco, stiffly.

"Hermione thought we needed to talk," said Harry, forcing himself to keep his voice even and his eyes on Draco's. The man was wearing rumpled pyjamas and Harry disliked immensely the effect they were having on him.

"We talk all the time," said Draco. His hand twitched on the door handle and he looked away from Harry, his interest in the gravel and not the man in front of him.

The rain was coming down harder and Harry pushed his sodden hair out of his face. His guilt towards Hermione was keeping him pinned in place and he didn't know how he was going to leave unless he could find a decent excuse to give her.

Draco shifted where he stood and Harry thought the uncomfortable silence had to be considered progress. Though he also thought Draco likely couldn't stand the thought of Hermione finding out he'd slammed the door in Harry's face.

"You're getting soaked," said Draco.

"I know," said Harry.

"I don't know how to do this," said Draco, looking up at last, frustration in his face and biting his lip. He ran his hand through his hair then shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Do what?" said Harry. He had been watching those hands, desperate to be able to touch them and - and he didn't know what was meant to happen after that. He shivered enough that Draco looked him up and down again, the frustration giving way by a fraction to worry.

"Make things better," said Draco. "Everything was okay and then it became bloody awful and - " he winced as though he was about to regret something painful " - and I don't like fighting with you."

"It's not like I enjoy it," said Harry, bitterly.

Draco huffed, the brief slip of laughter from his lips making Harry's own part with a sharp intake of breath.

"So, do we just agree to be friends again?" said Draco, sadly.

Harry pushed his hair from his face again and squinted up at the sky which seemed determined to soak him to the bone before the day was out.

"Friends?" said Harry, looking back at Draco.

Draco scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "What else would we be?" His hands back in his pockets, he looked Harry up and down and sighed. "I'm single but - "

"Single?" said Harry.

Draco frowned then nodded.

"I - I didn't know," said Harry. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," said Draco, with an empty smile. "So are we friends, then?"

"Is it that easy?" said Harry.

"No," said Draco. "But Hermione is going to haul us up in front of Kingsley if we don't get our act together." He coughed. "Yesterday was bad."

"We - we're friends again then, I guess," said Harry. The thunder was getting louder and there was a crack of lightning in the distance. He could feel the sparks building up in the space between them and didn't understand why nothing had exploded.

"I'll let you get home and dry off," said Draco. "You can tell Hermione we're going to behave ourselves."

Harry nodded. "I - I'll see you at the office later."

"See you then," said Draco, with a tight smile.

Harry turned and started to walk away across the gravel and there was the heavy clunk of the door shutting behind him.

He stopped after a few feet and looked up at the sky again just in time to see lightning strike in the distance. He was meant to be walking away but the pull to turn around was going to bring him to the ground if he wasn't careful. There was another lightning strike and the thunder was all but surrounding him. The rain was so heavy it sounded as though it was going to carry the gravel away in a flood.

"Harry?" Harry spun around and Draco caught him when he stumbled. Draco looked down, his hair already soaking and his pyjamas drenched from the torrential rain. He still had his hands on Harry and Harry held Draco's arms. Draco looked up, his shoulder heaving with deep breaths. "If you don't want - if this isn't what you - " He swore and pressed his lips to Harry's.

Harry froze and Draco pulled away, stumbling as he turned away. His head shot up when Harry grabbed his arm. He turned back and Harry took his face in his hands. He pressed his lips to Draco's for a brief moment before pulling away, his eyes wide. He swallowed but kept his hands on Draco's face and Draco didn't make to move.

"I think I want this - I think I want it very much," said Harry.

"You think you do?" said Draco, laughing in disbelief.

Harry pressed his lips to Draco's again and when Draco deepened the kiss, Harry didn't know whether to respond in kind or laugh. He pulled away, and his lips brushing Draco's, he said, "I do."

Harry felt Draco smile against his mouth and Draco pulled away.

"How about we get out of these wet clothes?" said Draco. "I know a decent way we can warm ourselves up."

Harry laughed and let Draco lead him indoors.


End file.
